Daheng Galaxy Viewer for programming our industrial cameras
If you are looking to test and program your industrial camera, the Daheng Galaxy Viewer program is an essential tool for the job. The Galaxy Viewer software allows you to easily adjust camera parameters, store and capture images, and has multiple plugins for additional features like crosshair, grid, and LUT. In this article, we’ll walk you through the possibilities and how to use the Daheng Galaxy Viewer to get the most out of your industrial camera. Do you still need help selecting the right camera set-up for your application? Or do you already have questions? Please contact us below.
Step 1: Install the Daheng SDK for your industrial camera
Before connecting your machine vision camera, you will need to download and install the latest version of the Daheng Camera Machine Vision SDK. Please note that it is essential to complete the installation process before connecting the camera. Once you have installed the SDK, the Galaxy Viewer software will also be installed. Additionally, you will have access to all industrial camera documentation in the C:\Program Files\Daheng Imaging\GalaxySDK\Doc folder, and programming examples in the C:\Program Files\Daheng Imaging\GalaxySDK\Samples folder.
Step 2: Opening the Galaxy Viewer
To open the Galaxy Viewer, navigate to the installation location of the demo software, which can be found at C:\ProgramFiles\DahengImaging\GalaxySDK\Demo\Win64\GalaxyView.exe. The easiest way to open the Galaxy Viewer program is by typing “galaxy” in your Windows search bar. You will be able to see:
Once you have opened the program, it will automatically scan for connected cameras in the network and USB ports.
You will be able to see the Daheng connection tree for
GigE/USB2.0/USB3.0 industrial cameras on the left side. You can also see which network cameras are connected to which network adapter.
If the industrial cameras are connected correctly, they will be automatically added to the tree at startup of the program or after the program refreshes the view. If needed, you can manually scan for devices and update the device list using the icon on the left.
Step 3: Connecting the industrial camera in the Galaxy Viewer
The Galaxy Viewer will display a list of connected industrial cameras in the network and USB ports. To connect to a specific industrial camera, simply select the name and either double-click it or press the “Open device” icon. It is possible to open multiple industrial cameras.
The screenshot below shows that a MER-630 GigE camera is found, and a MER2-2000 USB3 camera.
Step 4: Controlling the industrial camera in the Galaxy Viewer
Once you have connected the industrial camera, the camera sends an XML file to the Galaxy Viewer to inform it of the camera’s feature set. These features and camera parameters are displayed in the right-hand window, giving you complete control to adjust camera settings. Press the “Start acquisition” button to capture images and view the live feed from the camera.
When the industrial camera is connected, the camera sends a XML file to our GalaxyViewer to tell the GalaxyViewer its feature set. These features / camera parameters are displayed on the righthand window. Here you have control to change the parameters of the industrial camera.
Press the “Start acquisition” button to capture images and view the live feed from the industrial camera.
The camera will show live view with its default settings. Typical parameters to adjust include:
Under “Remote Device/AcquisitionControl"
• ExposureAuto: set to once or continuous
• ExposureTime: manually set the exposure value (only works if ExposureAuto is set to OFF)
Under “Remote Device/AnalogControl"
• BalanceWhiteAuto: only for industrial color cameras, to set the white balance
Under “Remote Device/ImageFormatControl"
• ROI: sets a Region of interest , ONLY works when acquisition: STOP
See How to set a Region of Interest (R.O.I.) inside an industrial camera in 3 steps.
Under “Remote Device/UserSetControl”
• UserSetControl: to save your above parameter changes to UserSet0
See How to save the camera parameters in 3 steps.
When using specific parameters regularly, you can add them to your favorites for quick and easy access. Simply right-click on each option and select “Add to favorites.” Those lines will be added at the very top of the option list for quick use.
Result of setting parameters:
Example A: live view with default industrial camera parameters.
Example B: Live view after optimizing the camera settings.
A: 
B: 
Step 5: Using the Galaxy Viewer options
In this section of the article, we show multiple features of the Galaxy Viewer software. We first show how to use the blue icons that have not been used in step 1 to 4 yet. Then we will walk past every tab in the top bar and explain what you could use it for while using your industrial camera.
Opening images
It is possible to review images made by your industrial camera in the Galaxy Viewer. You might want to do this to check the RGB value of a certain part of an image.
Saving images
You can click on the save image icon in the Galaxy Viewer to save the current image you made with your industrial camera. You can select the format you want to save the image in and the filename. We recommend to save images as .PNG to reduce image size without losing image quality.
Tile view
If you have multiple industrial cameras connected, it is possible to split the screen in the Galaxy Viewer with the tile tool and see both industrial cameras in the same window.
Cascade view
You can also view multiple industrial cameras with Cascade view in the Galaxy Viewer. This opens multiple windows as displayed on the image below.
Histogram
Show/Hide image histogram in the Galaxy Viewer (current overall image values).
Crosshair
Clicking the Crosshair-button in the Galaxy Viewer will display a crosshair in the middle of your industrial camera image. If you want to set the crosshair to a different part of the image, you go to the tab ‘settings’.
You can enter your own values for line width and offset at the window below. Note: Offset [0,0] is the center of the image. To go left or up, use a value lower than zero. For example: [-200,-50]
How to get to the customization of the crosshair
Grid
The Galaxy Viewer software has a grid function. Click the icon to toggle this grid.
To customize this grid, go to Settings > View options and switch from crosshair to grid. You can now choose between High, Default and Low. A high grid is made up of more lines than a low grid.
Digital zoom
In the Galaxy Viewer, you can as well zoom in or out of your image by clicking on the + or – icon or filling in a percentage. When you want to see the full image made by the industrial camera on your screen, you can click on “Fit size”. The Galaxy Viewer will determine the zoom percentage to make your full image fit on the screen.
To zoom in, you can change the zoom percentage. You can click on 100 to make every pixel of the industrial camera 1 pixel on your screen. This is useful for when you want to calibrate your lens to get a very sharp image.
TIP: do you have a project with different height objects? Put the tallest and shortest object next to each other while focusing the lens. To get more depth of field, you can close the iris. We recommend starting with F4.0. If the depth of field is not large enough, close the iris of the industrial camera lens further.
Step 6: Using the toolbar
The Galaxy Viewer software has more options available in the toolbar. This part of the article explains every tab and how to use the tools.
File
There are a few different options available under the file tab in the Galaxy Viewer.
You can load an image you have saved and then, for example, you can check the RGB value in a part of that image.
While acquisition is running, you can save images.
Import/Export device Settings is used to save or restore settings for a specific camera model, serves as backup or is quick way to configure multiple industrial cameras.
Save device XML enables you to save the current camera configuration file with information such as firmware version and the serial number.
Device
The ‘Device’ tab has the same options as the toolbar, besides “Device Default Open Mode”. In this Galaxy Viewer tab you can choose the level of user rights, which is set to default upon opening the program.
View
Toolbar/Devices/Features/Feature Document -> Toggle display of menus ON/OFF
Toolbar/Devices/Features/Image tools -> View the grid or crosshair, and the live image zoom/fit/100% fit
Plugin
Plugin manager: The Plugin manager shows you which plugins are active. You can enable and disable these plugins by checking/unchecking the box in front of the plugin. You can also increase of decrease the position of this plugin.
Flat Field Correction plugin (usage): Due to a lens or lighting that is used, the outer portion of the image can be darker than the middle, you can add extra gain to those parts. To do this:
- Make the scene white (use a white object that covers the complete field of view).
- Use a fixed exposure time and increase exposure until the center of the image has the value 255.
- Click on acquisition of brightfield images and then on execute FFC.
The plugin will now brighten up the darker parts of the image.
Image processing plugin: This lets you modify gamma color parameters
LUT create Tool plugin: Look up table. You can change intensity/gamma of pixels using a lookup table.
The multiImage Save Plugin: This enables you to save multiple images. You can use the MultiImage Save Plugin to time images and save them automatically.
Window
There are two settings under Window in the Galaxy Viewer. These settings rearrange the live view when using multiple industrial cameras. Split the screen by clicking on tile, or use the Cascade function (see full explanation under step 5).
Settings
Language: Select the program language
Set valid bits for display: If you capture images in a 12-bit setting, you can select which of the 12-bit images should be displayed on your monitor. Your monitor is most only capable of 8-10 bit.
Set Acquisition buffer number: Set how many frames are kept in the camera buffer before being sent out. More frames give stable framerate at the cost of acquisition speed.
Auto network package size: Auto-negotiate the best network package size and display.
TIP: this overwrites the GevSCPSPacketSize and GevSCPD values!
See step 3: Connecting multiple GigE cameras to one ethernet port.
Auto update device list: Automatically scans for new cameras periodically
Show incomplete frame: Shows incomplete frames in live view
Show image: Turn Live view ON or OFF
Show Raw Image Grey Value: Displays the value on the bottom of the screen
Start polling attribute: Every x seconds the attribute values are checked to see if these are changed. For example, put the camera on ‘auto exposure’ and have “polling attribute active”. When an object is placed in front of the lens, the image gets dark and the exposure time is increased.
You can see the value of the exposure time increasing.
When polling attribute is inactive you will not see the value of the attribute exposure time changing. You will now see in live view that the industrial camera is adapting to the exposure time.
View Options: Options about the grid/crosshair look.
Help
Show the current version of the Galaxy viewer.
If you have any questions about using this Galaxy Viewer with your industrial cameras, make sure to contact our customer support department.